In addition to writing Hurkle, Bob Albrecht also wrote Snark. The player guesses a coordinate and chooses the radius of a net to throw. The game tells you if the Snark is in the net, and your job is to capture it with a zero radius net. Albrecht published Snark as part of a compilation of games collected in 1975 and sold in the book "What to Do After You Hit Return".

As these surviving examples show, grid games using clues to find hidden objects were common by the early 1970's. By 1973 there was at least one game with hidden mines and another with the object of crossing a grid.

Minefield was printed in the May 1982 edition of Sinclair User magazine. The player tries to move a tank safely from left to right across the screen. Mines are randomly hidden by the computer. If a tank explodes, the player tries again with the next one. The game stops when a tank reaches safety and a score (the number of lost tanks) is displayed at the top of the screen. It was written by I S Howson of the UK. In October 1982 the magazine printed Minefields by D G Lomas (UK). The player is a Formula 1 racing driver who must drive across 10 increasingly difficult minefields. All mines are visible, and your task is to steer around them. Each level requires 32 moves to cross the screen and there is 1 point for each move taken for a total of 320 points. Hitting a mine stops the level and gives the player a 5 point penalty before continuing to the next level. Both games were written in BASIC for the ZX81 Spectrum computer. A clone of this game, called Mine Driver, was released in 1985 by Grupo de Trabajo Software (Spain) as part of a compilation.

Minefield was printed in the May 1982 edition of Sinclair User magazine. The player tries to move a tank safely from left to right across the screen. Mines are randomly hidden by the computer. If a tank explodes, the player tries again with the next one. The game stops when a tank reaches safety and a score (the number of lost tanks) is displayed at the top of the screen. It was written by I S Howson of the UK. In October 1982 the magazine printed Minefields by D G Lomas (UK). The player is a Formula 1 racing driver who must drive across 10 increasingly difficult minefields. All mines are visible, and your task is to steer around them. Each level requires 32 moves to cross the screen and there is 1 point for each move taken for a total of 320 points. Hitting a mine stops the level and gives the player a 5 point penalty before continuing to the next level. Both games were written in BASIC for the ZX81 Spectrum computer. A clone of this game, called Mine Driver, was released in 1985 by Grupo de Trabajo Software (Spain) as part of a compilation.

Nach der Veröffentlichung von Windows 3.0 am 22. Mai 1990, entschied sich Microsoft, eine Sammlung von Spielen für das neue System zu veröffentlichen. Die Mitarbeite wurden gebeten, Spiele einzureichen und Donner tat das mit Winmine und TicTactics. Beide wurden akzeptiert und als Teil des Windows Entertainment Packs am 8. Oktober 1990 veröffentlicht. Diese wurde in den USA um $39.95 verkauft. Donner sagte: "The Minesweeper title was selected after Microsoft legal did a name search and gave us a few options." Der Fußcursor wurde entfernt und das Spiel wurde von jemanden aus der Grafikabteilung optisch aufgeräumt. Donner bemerkt, dass Microsoft nie wirklich ein Urheberrecht für Minesweeper erwarb. "I worked for the company, wrote the game by myself, on my own time, on their equipment, and distributed it free to friends within the company. Eventually a Product Manager decided to put together an entertainment package and released it with several other games. For the first WEP release, most of the games were already complete. For WEP 2, they put out a more official call for submissions".

Minefield was printed in the May 1982 edition of Sinclair User magazine. The player tries to move a tank safely from left to right across the screen. Mines are randomly hidden by the computer. If a tank explodes, the player tries again with the next one. The game stops when a tank reaches safety and a score (the number of lost tanks) is displayed at the top of the screen. It was written by I S Howson of the UK. In October 1982 the magazine printed Minefields by D G Lomas (UK). The player is a Formula 1 racing driver who must drive across 10 increasingly difficult minefields. All mines are visible, and your task is to steer around them. Each level requires 32 moves to cross the screen and there is 1 point for each move taken for a total of 320 points. Hitting a mine stops the level and gives the player a 5 point penalty before continuing to the next level. Both games were written in BASIC for the ZX81 Spectrum computer. A clone of this game, called Mine Driver, was released in 1985 by Grupo de Trabajo Software (Spain) as part of a compilation.

You can see how this list could be endless. Some of these games have been claimed as inspirations for Minesweeper but none are proven to be connected. They are listed for context and historical interest.

Version History

Little is known about the early Beta versions of Minesweeper. One featured a foot cursor that exploded if it stepped on a mine. Another version had coins which enabled you to survive mines. The game was originally titled 'Mine'.

Mine 2.9

All beta versions of minesweeper were lost until Damien Moore (webmaster of this site) discovered Mine 2.9 in a collection of games uploaded to extinct Bulletin Board Systems. This version was made in July 1990 and passed between friends at work. Although the game was called Mines it used bomb graphics. It introduced all the standard rules and mouse functions such as flags and chording. Its three difficulty levels were Beginner (8x8, 10 mines), Intermediate (16x16, 40 mines) and Expert (24x24, 99 mines). The Game menu featured 'New F2', 'Beginner', 'Intermediate', 'Expert', 'Sound', 'Marks (?)', 'Preferences... F3' and 'Exit'. The Help menu offered 'Index F1', 'Keyboard', 'Using Help' and 'About WinMine'. Options unique to the Preference box included creating custom levels, enabling a 'Ticker' or removing the Menu bar. The Ticker simply ticked each second in imitation of a time bomb. Sound included a siren for hitting a mine or a rising one octave scale for winning a game.

There was a lot of redundancy between the menus. For example, you could access Help from the Help menu, About box or Preference box. Likewise you could access Preferences from the About box or the Game menu, and access About from the game icon or the Help menu. Despite being options on the Game menu, the Preference box also allowed you to change level and enable sound and marks.

The Help file was very detailed. It noted you could find mines by using a "mine detector" or "your foot". Stepping on a mine killed you, while chording was described as taking a "Big Step". The instructions claimed you could select "Safe Step" from the Preferences box, and this would prevent chording if not enough mines were flagged. This appears to be leftover from an earlier version, as Mine 2.9 and all later versions have this feature as standard.

Lost game

Preferences box

Game menu

Help menu

About box

Game icon

Expert 24x24 grid

Solitaire card deck that inspired the Smiley Face

WEP

Microsoft first published Minesweeper as part of the Windows Entertainment Pack on 8 Oct 1990. The graphics for mines and flags were changed and Expert level changed to a 1630 grid. The game icon changed to reflect the new mine graphics. The Help file had its pictures changed to reflect the new graphics, and all references to feet and death were removed. The game was officially named Minesweeper for the first time.

Menus changed drastically to remove redundancy. The Preferences box was deleted as well as the 'Sound' and 'Ticker' options. Each remaining option was now accessed in one place. (You could still enable Sound or Ticks by finding the Winmine.ini file and adding Sound=3 and Tick=1 on new lines.) The only new options were 'Custom' and 'Color' in case the player did not have a color monitor. (The Help file warned this option was to be used "only if you have a color monitor".) The Help menu was completely changed and offered 'Contents', 'Search for Help on...', 'How to Use Help' and 'About Minesweeper'.

Lost game

Game menu

Help menu

About box

Game icon

Expert 16x30 grid

Windows 3.1

Released on 6 Apr 1992, the only change to Minesweeper (from WEP) was a completely new Help file. Highscores were now stored in the editable Winmine.ini file in the Windows folder.

The Winmine.ini file

About box

Windows 95

Windows 95 was released on 24 Aug 1995 and once again included minesweeper. The graphics of the game were cleaned up, resulting in smaller but sharper number and mine graphics. The game icon changed to use the new graphics and the Help file was condensed into a smaller version. The only other change was the Help menu, which reduced options to just 'Help Topics' and 'About Minesweeper'.

The new game icon is used on the game itself, on the minimised tab, in the Windows directory and on the Games menu. It appears to be an oversight that the desktop shortcut and the About box continue using the original WEP icon. Although the game is called Minesweeper in the Games menu, it is called Winmine as a desktop shortcut.

Lost game

Game icon from menu

Game icon in Windows folder

Game icon on desktop

The 'About' box

Windows 98

Released on 25 Jun 1998, the only change to Minesweeper (from 95) was a new Help file. Windows 98 continued to use the game icons and naming habits as in the Windows 95 version.

The 'About' box

Windows 2000

Minesweeper was released on 17 Feb 2000 with 4 major changes. Firstly, the Beginner grid size was increased from 8x8 to 9x9 without increasing the number of mines. This added 17 empty squares and made the level much easier to solve. Coincidentally, this change happened to remove Board Cycles from the Beginner level. The second change was removing the Timer Jump bug. As a result, scores made on Windows 2000 and later are on average 0.500 seconds faster. The third modification was removing the Moving Window Bug which moved the game window upwards when the difficulty level changed. The fourth change was eliminating the Winmine.ini file and storing game values directly in the Registry. Smaller changes included a modified Help file and a new Help menu offering 'Contents', 'Search for Help on...', 'Using Help' and 'About Minesweeper'.

The game icon confusion of Windows 95/98/ME was cleared up as the Game menu and desktop shortcut reverted to the original icon. This made it consistent in all locations.

In Italy minesweeper was renamed "Field of Flowers" (Prato Fiorito) and mines were replaced with green flowers and a new soundtrack for losing. This resulted from pressure by groups such as the International Campaign to Ban Winmine.

Lost game

Game menu

Help menu

The registry entry for Minesweeper

The 'About' box

Italian icon

Italian lost game

Italian 'About' box

Windows ME

Released on 14 Sep 2000, the only change to Minesweeper (from 98) was two small alterations to the Help file. Windows ME continued to use the game icons and naming habits as in the Windows 95 and 98 versions.

The Italian edition of ME used the Prato Fiorito version introduced with 2000 but kept the original 8x8 Beginner grid.

Flower version

The 'About' box

Windows XP

Released on 25 Oct 2001, the only changes to Minesweeper (from 2000) were a new icon and a new Help file.

The Italian edition of XP continued to use the Prato Fiorito version introduced with Windows 2000 but changed the flower graphic.

Lost game

Game icon

The 'About' box

Italy version

Italy game icon

Italy About box

Windows Vista

Minesweeper was completely redesigned by Oberon Media for the release of Vista on 30 Jan 2007. All graphics are new and players can choose either a green or blue skin and avoid either water mines or flowers. It is also possible to randomise these combinations. There are sound effects for starting a game, clicking on an opening, chording incorrectly and for losing. If you step on a mine there are animated explosions, while stepping on a flower causes a flute to play as the flowers spin and turn grey. Sounds and animations can both be disabled. The first click of a game is now guaranteed to be an opening. Double-clicking with the left mouse button has the same effect as chording and a red X is flashed if done incorrectly. Tips are occasionally displayed until disabled. Oberon also added a feature where you can restart any game you lose, or save any incompleted game when you exit. One implication of this is that players can use Unfair Prior Knowledge to 'solve' boards. The developers also enhanced the Highscore List to save the top five scores and dates for each level. The new scoreboard records the number of games played, your winning percentage and winning or losing streaks in a manner similar to Freecell. The Oberon programmers removed the Smiley Face, which had served as a New Game button in all earlier versions. The Help file became part of Windows Help rather than a stand-alone file, and the executable file was named 'Minesweeper' instead of 'Winmine'.

The Vista version requires more user input, which is not necessarily beneficial to gameplay. For example, if you try to start a new game midplay, you are asked to confirm whether you wish to keep playing, restart the same game, or quit and start a new game. When you lose a game it asks whether you wish to play again, restart or exit. If you try to quit you must confirm whether you want to save the game, exit without saving, or cancel. A notice box appears every time you win a game. Changing the difficulty level requires four mouse clicks (instead of two) as it is buried inside the Options menu.

New game

Lost mines game

Lost mines game

Lost flowers game

Appearance settings

Win notice

Game options

Statistics box

Completed game

Game menu

Help menu

The 'About' box

Windows 7

Windows 7 was released on 22 Oct 2009 and Minesweeper remained nearly identical to the Vista version. The only change to the game interface is on the Help menu, where an option to 'Get More Games Online' has been added. The Help file was rewritten. The 'About' box still thanks Oberon Games (instead of Oberon Media) but the games folder now credits I-play for writing the game. (I-play is a website run by Oberon Media).

Help menu

The 'About' box

Interesting Facts

Bugs

One Click Bug - Before Vista, if a game is solved in one click the timer does not stop.

Timer Jump - Before Windows 2000 the game timer often skips a second at the start of a game.

Timer Lag - Before Vista, on most computers the game timer is slower than real time.

Board Cycles - Before Vista there were repeating loops of games due to poor randomisation.

Moving Window Bug - Before Windows 2000 changing difficulty level moved the game window off the screen.

The Highscore display in some languages is not large enough (e.g., in the German Windows 2000 version the "n" in "Sekunden" falls outside the box if the score is 3 digits).

Easter Egg

Type xyzzy and press [Shift] then [Enter]. The pixel in the top left corner of your screen is now white, and will turn black if the mouse moves above a mine. Donner intentionally programmed this cheat so a friend could impress people with his psychic ability. Inspiration came from the game Colossal Cave Adventure (1976), where typing xyzzy teleported the player between two locations. This Easter Egg was removed with the release of Vista.

Cheats

Stop the Clock - In all versions before XP you can stop the clock by holding down both mouse buttons, pressing [Esc] and releasing the buttons. To restart the clock minimise and reopen the game.

Pause the Timer - In all versions before Vista press the Smiley Face to pause the timer. You can also pause the game by minimising it.

Edit Highscores - In Windows ME or earlier locate the Winmine.ini file and edit the highscores. In Windows NT4 do the same thing to the entpack.ini file. In Windows 2000 and XP open the registry (regedit.exe) and navigate to HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Winmine to edit highscores. Backup the registry first.

See the Bombs - Vista and Windows 7 allow you to play the same game many times until you win. Lose the game on purpose and take a screenshot of the mine locations. Then look at the picture to solve the game.

Keyboard

It is possible to play Minesweeper without a mouse by activating MouseKeys. In XP or earlier versions go to the Control Panel --> Accessibility Options --> Mouse --> Use MouseKeys and edit the Settings. In Vista or later go to Control Panel --> Ease of Access --> Change how your mouse works --> Turn on MouseKeys and edit the Settings.

When MouseKeys is on you use the Number Keypad to navigate. Press [5] to click and [+] to flag. Chording uses two keys, [0] to press down and [.] to release. You move with the other number keys, such as [8] for up and [2] for down. The cursor moves one pixel at a time.

Be careful because pressing other keys modifies these functions. For example, pressing [-] will make [5] start flagging and you need to press [/] to return to the original function. Pressing [-] makes [0] unflag and [*] restores it, and doing it again makes it flag before restoring it.

In Vista or later it is easier to skip MouseKeys and just use the keyboard. Arrow keys move the cursor one square at a time. Hit [Enter] to click, press [1] to flag and [Shift][Enter] to chord. It is also possible to use [Spacebar] to click, [Shift][Spacebar] to flag or chord. In all versions [F2] starts a new game and [Alt] allows you to view the menus.

If you are using a mouse, you can Chord by holding [Shift] and clicking the left mouse button.

Trivia

Minesweeper replaced Reversi with the release of Windows 3.1.

The maximum grid size is 24x30 and the maximum number of mines that can be placed is limited by (X-1)(Y-1).

According to Robert Donner, Bill Gates scored 4 seconds on the Beginner level in 1990. "Bill sent email to me and a program manager inviting us to verify it for ourselves. He said it was sitting on Mike Hallman's machine. I was too busy to go, but the PM verified it." Mike Hallman joined Microsoft in April 1990 and was the company president.

The Moving Windows Bug affected Winmine 98 and earlier ... but if you play those versions on Vista, the games slide diagonally towards the bottom right corner instead of upwards!

Sound for early versions was a one octave rising scale (B major) for winning, a siren (B-B-B-B-B-B alternating high and low) for losing and a beep (F) for each tick. Windows 2000 and XP use a single explosion for losing, a shimmer for winning and a beep (G#) for ticking. Listen. Vista introduced many new sounds. These include a ripple of notes for starting a game, a beep (B flat) for each opening, another beep (G sharp) for incorrect flagging, a ripple of explosions (mines) or a flute melody (flowers) for losing, and a noise for winning. The Italian version of Windows 2000 introduced this sound for stepping on flowers (it was kept for ME and XP).

All Beta versions of Minesweeper were lost, until 12 July 2010 when Damien Moore discovered Mine 2.9 in an online archive of miscellaneous programs. It had been part of a CD called 'Windows 1993' containing 7000 Windows programs collected from various BBS sites and sold by 'Chicago Computer Broker'. Damien emailed a copy to Robert Donner, the original programmer, as Donner had believed all Beta versions were lost.

Options for sound and ticking were removed when WEP was released. You can restore them on versions before Vista by editing the Winmine.ini file. (In Windows NT4 edit the entpack.ini file.) Add the lines 'Sound=3' and 'Tick=1'. Disable by changing values to zero or deleting them. You can actually give Sound any positive integer greater than 2 and give Tick any positive integer. Sound returned to the menu in Windows 2000 and ticking was merged with it.

You can lose on the 1st click if you replay a game on Vista or Windows 7.

Downloads

The following downloads are by Microsoft or the original authors in English. For other versions see the Minesweeper Versions page.

Games

The Windows 2000 and XP versions do not work on earlier systems because they store values in the Registry. The Windows Vista and 7 versions only work on those systems as they are part of an integrated games package.

Help Files

To view old Help files on Vista or later you need to download this file and place it in the 'Windows' folder on your main drive. Help files for Vista and Windows 7 are built into the operating system so have been put into Word documents here. The older Help Files have also been put into Word documents and are included with the originals in each ZIP folder.